Fernando Moita

Intermittent vesical self-catheterisation is a legitimate and safe technique that has been reported since the 1970s as a solution for the treatment and prevention of vesical urinary complications resulting from spinal cord injury. This practice, using clean technology, has been asserting itself as one of the best alternatives for people with neurogenic bladder. However, adherence is not complete due to some barriers imposed to this procedure by the injured, with emphasis on positioning, agility, and visual impairment. The solutions presented today to support self-catheterisation are expensive equipment that does not allow patients with advanced levels of spasticity to have their autonomy. A biomechanical support device was developed to aid self-catheterisation, mainly aimed at women with spasticity, filling the gap in the existing products. Despite the main objective of self-catheterisation, the system’s design made it possible to quantify the strength of the adductors for the sitting position during the execution of the adduction movement, particularly relevant for spastic patients. The device’s production was entirely carried out using the FDM methodology, with 3D printers, and its design and operation were thought to overcome the physical and psychological barriers imposed by the users. The system was first tested with a group of healthy volunteers to obtain a pattern of the adductors force in a sitting position and after with a group of spastic volunteers. The obtained data allows to compare the adductor force data and optimize the system, with particular functionalities for spastic patients, with the implementation of a motorised version and a visualization camera. The system, its developments, and results obtained are present and discussed.

The integration of lighting in ceramic elements can lead to a set of important applications nowadays in different context. The project Light in Tiles aims to develop ceramic element units with incorporated programable lights. For this purpose, it is necessary to embed the necessary wires that feed the light sources into the ceramic, which must be prepared with a set of cut-outs and holes so that the wires can be embedded. Given that the holes weaken the ceramic component, it is important to understand the decrease in mechanical strength associated with the need for these holes and cut-outs. This work compares the mechanical behaviour of a ceramic element considering three different situations: whole ceramic element without any cut-out or hole, ceramic element with open cut-outs and holes, ceramic element with cut-outs and holes filled with epoxy resin for sealing the wires and lighting.

The Light in Tiles (LiT) project is an innovation project funded by the European Commission and aims to develop a new technological solution for the manufacture of traditional flooring and tiles with integrated LED lighting technologies. The goal is to incorporate in traditional ceramics, without changing its characteristics or dimensions, light effects for lighting and decoration. These tiles must have an easy interconnecting method, both for assembly and for possible repair. The LiT project aims to offer the market a solution that breaks with traditional products from the point of view of their technical, functional and even aesthetic characteristics. This article briefly presents the first developments in the incorporation of LED lighting in traditional ceramic tiles.

Health and sports monitoring based on wireless low power and low range communication devices have been proposed by a number of commercial and scientific solutions. Low cost and small form devices allow data transfer and processing without cumbersome cabling. Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), that include an accelerometer, a gyroscope and sometimes may include one magnetometer, are used to determine body movement profile. Despite their inherent inaccuracy, these sensors are used for computing three-dimensional space object orientation. These computations are usually implemented with sensor fusion algorithms within devices that have enhanced computational capabilities. This paper presents a work that aims at estimating the limb and body trunk movements of a pedaling user/patient in a bicycle like device. The presented study has been undertaken within the Exobike project. The Exobike is a bicycle like exoskeleton where the lower limbs and the trunk of a user/patient are to be monitored using IMU data transferred through a radio frequency Bluetooth Low Energy protocol. This paper focuses on the use of IMU sensors and a type of recursive filters to estimate movement profile.

This paper presents a new electronic controller, devoted to solar water heating systems, that implements safety functions to prevent L. pneumophila bacteria outbreaks. The controller uses data retrieved from strategically located probes in order to implement the proposed safety actions. The electronic solution was integrated and validated on a solar system prototype bench that uses real equipment such as collectors, a water storage tank and expansion vessels. Moreover, two particular solar water heating installations were designed devoted to a house family and a nursing home both located on the Mealhada area. The methodology and reported technical solutions in this research could be a practical guide to promote mass market usage of the solar water heating systems in Portugal.

This paper presents a solar water heating system with novel safety and energy management functions that protect both the solar installation and users health. The planned system schedules safeguarding operations and improves the efficiency of the heat transfer mechanism. The system prevents Legionella pneumophila bacteria colonies outbreaks and promotes energy management by using an extensive set of data, retrieved from strategically located probes that properly feed the implemented control algorithms. The methodology and the reported technical solutions in this research could be, in the future, used as an integrated part of the smart grid home area network being nowadays, in its simplest form, a practical guide to promote mass market usage of the solar water heating systems in Portugal.

An increasing number of commercial and scientific solutions for unmanned vehicles, aeronautical/aerospace navigation systems, health and sports monitoring solutions, has been prompted by the development of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems based inertial sensors. These sensors, with small form factor and low cost, present an advantage for computing three-dimensional space object orientation. Also radio frequency communication (RF) devices are frequently associated with inertial sensors and embedded systems. Radio frequency communication protocols allow immediate data transfer and processing without cumbersome cabling. With special relevance for sports monitoring, gait analysis and general movement assessment inertial sensors have been embedded together to form one device with several sensors. The so called Inertial Measurement Units (IMU), that include an accelerometer, a gyroscope and sometimes may include one magnetometer, are increasingly used, despite their inherent inaccuracy, to determine a body orientation and/or movement profile. These sensors present therefore an advantage for computing three-dimensional space object orientation. The inherent inaccuracy is addressed by using sensor fusion algorithms that increase system reliability. In the work presented in [1], a survey of a number of relevant sensor fusion algorithms was presented. In [2] a Yaskawa Motoman robotic arm is used to implement a set of predefined movements that granted accuracy and repeatability conditions to a framework that is able to test systems that are able to determine a body position. In both [1] and [2], a Bluetooth Low Energy based CC2541 Texas Instruments device has been used to transfer the required data from the IMU sensors to a PC computer running a Windows operating system. This paper presents the BLE proprietary profile that has been implemented to transfer data in wireless mode. Moreover, the paper describes the BLE protocol basics and the relevant options so that implemented systems are low power and fully compatible with the protocol. Also the future use of the developed device is addressed within the context of the Parkinson disease early diagnosis and Canoeing sport monitoring.